When The Lights Go Out
by ThinE
Summary: It's raining heavily outside, and suddenly, the power goes off. What could possibly happen? ONESHOT Tsuchiura vs Tsukimori


Hello people! Like promised, her comes a one-shot from me =)

This story was submitted for a Halloween themed contest a while ago. I really had fun writing it. I never thought I could crack the characters this way! ^^ Anyway, enjoy! Don't kill me if the ending doesn't go according to your expectations, btw ;)

Beta-reader was **Nerizu** =)

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own La Corda d'Oro. I just took the liberty to mess with the characters, haha... And the title is borrowed from a song by English group **5ive** (anyone remember them?)

**Note:** _Babanuki_ literally means old maid. In some countries, it's know under the same name =D

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When The Lights Go Out**

Tsuchiura Ryoutarou groaned in annoyance. He was left with Tsukimori Len. Again. Three times in a row, and it wasn't funny anymore.

He cursed under his breath, and put both hands behind his back as he silently mixed, while his gaze locked with the single opponent sitting across him, who was gazing back with a bored expression.

Sitting around them, the rest of the players started cheering, laughing, yelling encouragements or even demotivating both parties.

"Come on, Tsuchiura-kun! You can do it!" came Hino's yell.

"I have the shot prepared. You don't want to drink it again, do you?" Yunoki asked with a foxy smirk plastered on his face.

"Haha, don't lose to Tsukimori again, Tsuchiura!" Hihara shouted.

"Ganbatte, Tsuchiura-senpai," Fuyuumi added.

"And why is Tsuchiura the only one getting encouraged?" Tsukimori asked, annoyed.

"Because Tsukimori-senpai has won twice already," Shimizu said matter-of-factly.

Tsuchiura rolled his eyes. Alcohol was slowly showing the effects. They were carefree and never ceased to smile.

He finally showed his last two cards face-down, while never letting Tsukimori's gaze go. Finally, Tsukimori sighed. He had a queen of hearts in his hand, and one of Tsuchiura's cards was queen of diamonds. He only needed to guess which one. He shifted his gaze to Tsuchiura's hand, considered, and picked the one to his left.

Everybody in the room gasped, and Tsuchiura gulped. He waited for Tsukimori to open first. A moment later, Tsukimori raised the card he just picked from Tsuchiura, observed it, shot him a smug gaze, and opened both cards. A pair of red queens came into view.

Tsuchiura hit his own forehead with a palm and closed his eyes. He didn't need to see the single card he had in his hand. It was obviously a joker. The Goddess of Fortune wasn't with him that night. Meanwhile, the others burst into hysterical laughter, as if mocking him for being so unlucky at _babanuki_.

"Now, now, Tsuchiura-kun. Have a drink," Yunoki said.

As Tsuchiura opened his eyes, he saw a shot-glass raised right in front of his face. The one holding it, Yunoki, was watching with a sly smile. Tsuchiura grabbed the glass, watched the transparent liquid for a moment, and finally finished it in one gulp.

Three shots of vodka within the span of fifteen minutes had surely left him feeling a curious hot sensation all over. For a moment, he felt blinded and light-headed, that he had to close his eyes again and breathe deeply.

A moment later, he opened his eyes again. Yunoki was already arranging the deck of cards, ready to mix again.

"Are we... playing again?" Tsuchiura asked with a frown.

"Of course. The bottle isn't empty yet," Hihara answered with a grin, pointing at the one-liter bottle that stood half-full on the table.

Half of the contents had been consumed by Hino, Yunoki, Hihara, and Fuyuumi, each having the chance to drink a shot. Tsuchiura was the only unlucky person, having to drink three already, while Tsukimori was the luckiest for not having to drink a single drop of alcohol yet.

Tsuchiura glanced hatefully toward Tsukimori. _Lucky bastard_, he cursed inwardly.

How they came across the bottle of vodka was actually pure coincidence. The group had been dispatched to a villa belonging to Yunoki's family in the mountains for a training camp for a week, under Kanazawa-sensei's vigilance. They arrived on early Saturday, and later, after dinner, Kanazawa-sensei had to fetch someone who would be in charge of the household during their stay.

The participants, having nothing to do, stayed in the living room together and chatted. After a moment, Yunoki and Hihara started browsing around the house for entertainment. And that was when they came across a deck of cards in the living room and a full bottle of vodka in the kitchen.

"Do we really have nothing better to do?" Tsukimori asked, irritated. He was bored, and the others' behavior due to alcohol was getting to his nerves.

"Why? Afraid of losing?" Tsuchiura mocked. He really wanted to stuff Tsukimori with the rest of the bottle now.

Tsukimori gave him a deathly glare, only to be responded by the same action from the nemesis.

Suddenly, the phone rang, breaking the tension.

"I'll get it," Fuyuumi said, then left.

While waiting for Fuyuumi, Yunoki started dividing the cards between the players.

"What? Are you serious, Kanazawa-sensei?" came Fuyuumi's worried exclamation.

Upon hearing her voice, all gazes shifted toward the clarinetist. They watched with curiosity as she talked to the music teacher on the phone.

"Alright, I'll let the others know. Thank you, Sensei," she continued, and hung up.

"Fuyuumi-chan, what's wrong?" Hino asked with worry.

Fuyuumi turned to face the others, worry clearly written on her face.

"Kana-yan... can't come back tonight," she said nervously. "There... had been a landslide because of the heavy rain. And moreover... the storm might be coming... and..."

"And?" Hihara inquired with widened eyes.

"... And... There is a possibility... for power to go... off...," she stuttered.

"What?!?"

"This is bad," Yunoki commented after the cued cries. He stood up, then walked toward the large window and watched the heavy autumn rain pouring outside. "We don't have emergency power in this house, so we'll have to rely on candles and flashlights should it really happen."

"And do you have them?" Tsukimori asked with a panicked tone that didn't escape Tsuchiura's ears, making him wonder.

Yunoki turned to see the rest of the group warily. "I don't know. We'll have to search-"

His words were cut by the loud sound of thunderbolt. And at the same time, the lights went off...

Incoherent cries of panic resounded in the room for a moment that seemed very long. Soon, steps were heard, and the sound of someone tripping over something or someone, added to the chaos. And the atmosphere suddenly grew chilly.

"Ouch!" Tsuchiura shouted in pain to whoever stepped on his foot.

"Ah, Tsuchiura-kun? Sorry!" Hino apologized.

Hino's apology was followed by a click and a sudden source of light from the middle of the room. And with that, came Tsuchiura's bluish face into view. Then there was an anguished scream that nobody knew where the source was.

"Guys, it's me," Tsuchiura said reassuringly, but wondered who screamed just now.

"Good idea, Tsuchiura-kun," Yunoki pointed out, and a moment later, his face glowed bluish as well.

With the light from his mobile phone, Tsuchiura started searching for his comrades. Hino was clearly standing behind him now, clutching to the back of his shirt. At least with that fact known, he was relieved.

Moving the light to his right, he saw Fuyuumi fishing for something in her bag.

"Fuyuumi-san, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Ah, I'm sure I have a flashlight in my bag, Senpai. Don't worry about me," she answered.

While moving further, he spotted Shimizu sitting on the sofa, hugging his legs. His face showed no panic.

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Shimizu-kun, are you alright?"

"Yep."

_Well, if he says so_, the pianist thought.

He continued moving the tiny source of light to the rest of the room, but couldn't find Hihara and Tsukimori.

"Yunoki-senpai, can you spot Hihara-senpai and Tsukimori?" he asked.

"I'll try," Yunoki answered, then started walking around the room while calling his two missing fellows.

Suddenly, they tensed up as their eyes registered weak light coming from the room's entrance. The light grew bigger, as if coming nearer with steady pace. Yunoki halted, Fuyuumi stopped searching, Shimizu quietly eyed at the direction, and Hino pulled Tsuchiura's shirt, to the point of strangling him with his own collar. Everybody was tense, not knowing what or who that might be.

"Guys!" called a male voice out, and they relaxed.

"Hihara, you had us scared! Where were you?" Yunoki muttered in relief, while stepping toward his classmate, who was holding a glowing candle in his hand.

"While searching for drinks earlier, I stumbled upon a pack of candles in the kitchen. So I went to get them," he responded merrily and raised his other hand, showing the box of candles.

At that point, they heard a click and another light surfaced from the middle of the room.

"I found my flashlight, Senpai!" Fuyuumi announced happily with a smile, while directing the light ceiling-ward.

"Come, let us sit. It's better to stick together since we don't know how long this will last," Yunoki said wisely as the senior he was, and walked back to the sofas in the middle of the room.

"But we still haven't found Tsukimori-kun?" Hino expressed her worry toward the fellow violinist.

"I'm here," came the cold statement from the door, and a moment later, Tsukimori slumped on the armchair he was sitting on previously.

"Where were you, Tsukimori-kun?" Hino asked in concern.

"Bathroom," he simply stated, as if not wanting anyone to ask any further.

Between deck of cards, glasses and a bottle of vodka, Hihara set a glowing candle with care, then lit another and set it on the side table. After the addition of light, Tsuchiura and Yunoki switched the light from their respective mobiles off, while Fuyuumi still held her flashlight – now switched off – in her hand.

Gathered silently around the table, their faces glowed faintly in the flickering candles. The dancing flame made the faces an eerie play of light and shadow.

"What do we do now?" Shimizu finally asked.

"How about we tell stories?" Hino suggested. She too was getting bored of the silence.

"Speaking of which," Hihara raised his voice in excitement. "Isn't today Halloween? Let's tell ghost stories!"

"Ghost... stories...?" Tsukimori muttered doubtfully.

Again, the tone didn't escape Tsuchiura's ear. He suddenly grinned, and a wicked idea came to his mind. He leaned to Yunoki who was sitting beside him, and whispered something. Yunoki's face lit up with a playful glint.

"Let us narrate a ghost story each. The one who gets scared first...," Yunoki paused dramatically.

"What?" Tsukimori asked, then cleared his throat.

Yunoki leaned forward and touched the lid of the bottle on the table. "... Has to finish this vodka."

"That's mean, Yunoki-senpai!" Hino exclaimed warily.

"Are you afraid?" Yunoki challenged her cynically.

Hino frowned. "No, but nobody can drink that much in a go."

"I never said in a go, Hino-san," Yunoki added with a sly smile.

"Alright, I'll start then!" Hihara volunteered.

He first blew the candle on the side table off, leaving only one source of light in the whole room. Lowering his tone dramatically, he started telling a ghost he claimed to have seen while spending summer holidays in the countryside when he was little. Despite the quite scary story, nobody bulged, and he slumped back on the sofa with a pout, disappointed.

Fuyuumi took turn, telling about a lady that had been killed by her husband, and the husband dumped her body into a well so that nobody could find her. Days later, the husband started seeing drops of water inside the house every morning. Out of curiosity, he investigated at night, and spotted a female body crawling out of the well. Finally, the man was strangled to death by his dead wife.

By the time Fuyuumi finished telling her story, the tension in the room had risen tremendously. Tsuchiura eyed Tsukimori, and laughed inwardly at the violinist's wary expression.

"I'm next," Shimizu quietly announced.

Slowly, he narrated about a teacher who had to stay until shortly before dusk at school. By the time he was leaving, he was sure nobody was still inside the building. Walking out, he unconsciously looked up and saw a girl standing by the window of an unused classroom. Surprised and curious, he ran to the said room, and found it locked as it had always been for the past year.

"Tsukimori-senpai, are you scared?" Shimizu asked innocently after finishing his story.

Tsukimori realized he was gritting his teeth and was starting to have goosebumps, but he didn't want to admit it.

"No, it's just a bit cold," he stated. Tsuchiura nearly laughed at his answer.

"Remember the punishment," Yunoki smirked.

"Your turn, Tsukimori," Tsuchiura mocked. He was happy that he could get back at his nemesis.

Tsukimori hesitated and sweat was starting to build on his forehead. He had always despised ghost stories. In fact, he was _scared_ of ghosts and the likes. Yes, he was afraid, but there was no way he would admit his greatest weakness. Earlier, as Tsuchiura switched his mobile's light on, he got so scared at the pianist's bluish face that he unconsciously screamed and ran out of the room. And now, everybody in the room was waiting for him to tell a ghost story.

"Once upon a time...," he mumbled with trembling lips. _Kami-sama, please, get me out of here...!_

"We can't hear you, Tsukimori-kun," Yunoki said.

Tsukimori took a deep breath. After counting to three, he started again, this time louder.

"Once upon a time... there was an abandoned house... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...!!!"

Tsukimori suddenly screamed very loudly, sending everybody in the room to jump out of surprise. Not long after, the lights went on again, blinding them. When they opened their eyes, Kana-yan was standing behind Tsukimori's armchair, totally perplexed, while said violinist's head now lay on the chair's arm.

Thus, the rest of the participants in the room sat silently awestruck upon seeing what happened in front of them. A moment later, Tsuchiura broke the ice by laughing out loud, followed by Yunoki, and soon Hino's shriek could be heard.

"Tsukimori-kun fainted!"

.

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**END**

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**A/N:** So? What do yo think? Unexpected, perhaps? Do review so I know what you think of this! Thx! ;)


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